Category: Simona Halep

I have been a huge fan of Simona Halep since her junior days. I have followed her career. Watched her rise to be in the top 10 of women’s tennis. I have watched her evolution as a player. I have been there through the disappointments. I have been there through the victories. I get annoyed when she plays lights out against my favourites, only to falter against those who are not as good.

This year I watched the French Open and while I had pegged Ostapenko to do very well, I have to confess that I, like many, did not expect her to win.

I don’t know if many people remember this, but Simona Halep used to be a bit of a hot head. She would throw tantrums on court. She was “emotional” because she expected so much of herself. She was fiery and that is what I loved most about her. One of my faovurite Simona moments was when she made her way through qualifying all the way to the semifinals of Rome, taking out some incredible clay court players along the way. During that tournament, she played amazing tennis. Her balance on the court, as well as her shot selection was superb.

Then came the super coaches.

They bulked her up. They unbulked her up. They made adjustments to her serve to make it bigger and when that failed, they went for consistency of serve over power. They tried to take her from playing 10 feet behind the baseline to a player who was coming to the net. When that failed, they wanted to make her aggressive and when that failed, they sit in the stands with a look of amazement on their collective faces and wonder what went wrong.

Last night (28 August), Simona Halep, in the same way that Katniss offered herself as tribute for her sister Prim (Hunger Games), was put in the lions den of Arthur Ashe stadium as tribute to the return of Maria Sharapova, for a ratings pull and for the narrative of mentally tough opponent overcoming all kinds of obstacles to reach the second round of the US Open.

During last night’s commentary no mention was made that the reason why Sharapova was out for 15 months was due to a doping violation. The “injuries” which led to her pulling out of 3 tournaments for which she had received underserved wild cards was however used as talking point fodder in order to project that she had overcome challenges. This is what tennis does. This is what tennis has always done and this is what tennis will always do.

Anti doping is a joke best left to comedians on Saturday Night Live. There are many who think that those of us who are hell bent on seeing Sharapova run out of the sport do not believe in redemption. Frankly, there is not a bigger believer in redemption than me. As someone who has gone through her own struggles and who has benefitted from being redeemed, I am a big believer in giving people a second, third and even a fourth chance. However, in order for someone to be redeemed that person has to first of all own up to their wrongs. They have to look everyone in the eye and say without equivocation that what I did was wrong and I am sorry. There is no but, or however, or attempt to point and/or assign blame. You admit your wrong and you try to move on. Sharapova has not done this.

I don’t think there is any tennis fan who would ever say that Sharapova has not been a great champion. She is a fighter and that is what is so weird about this whole doping issue. If Sharapova had gone the route of qualifying to enter a Major, I don’t think anyone would ever have been of the view that she was not deserving of her place in the draw. The fact is that she did not and it just adds to the whole issue of what her PR team puts out (hard worker) to the reality of the situation (willing to get a leg up).

Sharapova and her PR team craft her own narrative with the aid and assistance of the tennis media. She is without a doubt the Ivanka Trump of tennis and the tennis media have colluded with her and her PR team to the detriment of the sport.

Day One Review

Separate and apart from the Halep match, there were other interesting matches from day one. Venus Williams struggled through a 3 set affair with a player most folks had never heard of in Victoria Kuzmova. The youngster played very well, out acing Venus along the way. However, in the long run, she not only ran out of gas, but ran out of big serves. She is definitely one to watch for the future and one can only hope that she sticks around.

Alexandra Krunic, Fed Cup stalwart, and forgotten Serbian, took Britain’s Joanna Konta out of the race for No.1 by defeating her in 3 sets. Konta joins Halep as the first top seeds to exit the tournament.

Dominika Cibulkova struggled mightily against perennial giant killer Jana Cepelova in a tough 3 set battle. Hopefully Domi will use the day off to fix whatever it is that ails her shoulders.

Sloane Stephens continued her excellent summer run, taking out Roberta Vinci. Sophia Kenin pulled the upset over the No. 32 seed Lauren Davis and Caroline Wozniacki, Garbine Muguruza and Petra Kvitova had little or no trouble with their opponents.

Day 2 Picks and Previews

Day 2 sees the top half of the women’s draw take to the courts with the No. 1 seed and current No. 1 player Karolina Pliskova opening against a pretty tough opponent in Magda Linette. Spin’s Picks are in bold.

What an absolutely wonderful event you staged at Roland Garros over the past two weeks. You ladies kept me glued to my computer screen and you actually made me late for work a few mornings. On many occassions while I was at work, I was unable to watch matches, and so, for the first time in a long while, I actually had to go home and watch matches that had already been concluded during the course of the day’s event.

Your tournament was so good that I actually had to subscribe to additional channels because I just did not want to miss one ball during this 2 week event. And I don’t even like clay season all that much.

However, and this where I am a little bit annoyed at you ladies. I know your champion is an outlier. I know that she is not very popular amongst her peers (hello, Judy Murray cheered on Naomi Broady when she went after her). I know she has a temper, but come on, did no one watch the final? Did none of you get up out of your beds, no matter where you were in the world, and watch the match? OK, so maybe it isn’t about Ostapenko. Maybe it is about Halep, her opponent? Maybe you were disgusted at Halep’s comments about equal pay? If so, I can understand. There were 2 of your colleagues playing that you don’t really like and so, you never even bothered to tune in … but … and here is where there is a big but … you ladies don’t even seem to do the same thing for Serena Williams either.

What is about the WTA athletes where congratulating an athlete on an accomplishment seems to go against some competitiveness etc. I know you ladies congratulate people and I know you ladies watch tennis matches. The proof was the next day when you were all out in your numbers congratulating Rafael Nadal on winning 10 Roland Garros titles. See, this is where I sometimes don’t get the thought process behind who you ladies choose to watch and for whom you choose to show your support.

I have read interviews where some of you say that you don’t watch women’s tennis. Where you say that you can’t think of having a female coach. Where you think having a coach coming down court side to provide guidance is a good thing. I get the mind set, but again, how does that benefit your sport? There are men on the ATP who don’t agree that women should get paid the same as the men. I can’t imagine why you would care to support someone whose thought processes are still stuck in the dark ages. I don’t get it. Help me out here.

Anyway, your Roland Garros champion is a joy. She is young, athletic, disarming and very engaging. Hopefully, you ladies can see fit to show her some love via social media (even if she isn’t on Twitter).

Thoughts

how great was it to see Jelena Ostapenko introduce herself to the tennis world. 54 winners, most of them from that huge forehand (and don’t forget her backhand) in the final and 289 winners overall. She showed more than anything what belief really is. Congratulations Jelena.

Simona Halep needs to rethink her life and her life choices. Get rid of Darren Cahill. He is a terrible coach. There is nothing wrong with you getting emotional. If it helps you in your every day life, I say go for it. If smashing a racquet and cursing in Romanian get you through a match, then do it. You are not a child and your coach is not your parent.

Caroline Wozniacki, please take a leaf out of Ostapenko’s book and ditch your dad as a coach. You are back in the top 10 but you have done so by playing careful tennis. If you want to win that Major, you are going to have to change your mind set when it comes to your game and just go for it. You did it earlier in the year but you have regressed. Sort it out.

Angelique Kerber (no words)

Elina Svitolina – not my pick to win but you don’t have match points, lose a tight tiebreak and then disappear in the third set. Not for a place in the French Open. You don’t do that.

I am sure that many have already put forward their thoughts on Ostapenko being coached by a woman. What I loved about this is the story behind it. Ostapenko is/was coached by her mother, also named Jelena. The team decided that it might be a good thing to get another voice to work with the younger Jelena during the clay season. The older Jelena took a backseat and allowed the coach that had been employed to work her magic. The fact that the coach in question, Anabel Medina had no prior coaching history (at least none of which I am aware), and was only available because she has been sidelined with a shoulder injury, is a testament to both Jelenas having the wisdom to actually know their limitations and putting a plan in place to ensure that they brought in someone wiser and smarter than they were (Wozniacki, please take note of this).

All in all I enjoyed this year’s French Open. My faves never got near the title but I am quite ecstatic at this new generation. They are hitting fearlessly and cleanly and I for one am loving it.

In our Day 5 match to watch, Ace picked the match between young Americans, Jamie Hampton and Sloane Stephens. As with most of our matches to watch this USO, this one failed to live up to expectations. Stephens without a doubt loves a stage. Hampton not so much. It showed in the tennis. The grit that got Hampton to the third round was absent today. The fight that got Stephens through the first round was in evidence today. The outcome was never in doubt. American TV now has one-half of the round of 16 match up that they want. A rematch of the Australian Open match between Serena Williams and Sloane Stephens. Maybe Shvedova will have something to say about that, but I doubt it.

As expected Jheng Jie had nothing left in the tank and bowed out 2 and 4 to Suarez-Navarro. I watched this match today and I have to say that I was very disappointed in Jie’s play. The tactics that she used so effectively against Venus were non-existent today. Her early returns and moving forward into the court to take the ball on the rise was not present and she was run ragged all over the court by Navarro. All in all as a Venus fan I was disheartened by Jie’s play. However, how good does Suarez-Navarro look? I watched her doubles match against the Williams Sister and while she did not maintain her excellent play in the first set, she carried over that play into her singles match against Jie. Look for her to make the quarter-finals and maybe even higher.

Na Li had her revenge against Robson today. Li has changed her game and is now much more varied. I wonder though how long before she stops looking up into the stands as her coach tells her what to do or how soon before the umpires start warning her for coaching from the stands.

Aga Radwanska had her hands full today with Pavlyuchenkova. It was a hard fought 4 and 6 win today, but I am sure that Aga will take it as it gets tougher from here on out.

Ace’s Matches to Watch

Svetlana Kuznetsova vs Flavia Pennetta – Kuznetsova won her first match in 2 tight sets against Burdette then won a three setter against Peng, who got injured late in the match along with having cramps. Believe it or not, she is one of only two champions left in the field. Pennetta has returned from the tour from injury and has lost only 6 games which includes a thumping of Errani in her last match. About 2 to 3 years ago, this would have been a quarterfinal or later match.

Maria Kirilenko vs Simona Halep – Kirilenko is quietly moving through the draw defeating Wickmayer and Larcher De Brito in straight sets. Halep struggled in her first match against Watson coming from a title run at New Haven. Then, she won easily over an up and comer in Vekic. Winner of this match may be the odds on favorite to win the third quarter.

Ana Ivanovic vs Christina McHale – Ivanovic has defeated Tatishvili and Dulgheru in uneventful straight sets. McHale has won two matches in a tournament for the first time since Doha. She needed the wins as she has been struggling to revert back to her 2011 form. Both ladies could use another win to boost their confidence where the winner will most likely face Azarenka on Labor Day Monday.